Question: What is the relationship between a health service provider’s professional obligations of confidentiality and their obligations under the Privacy Act 1988?

Answer: The Privacy Act does not prevent a health service provider’s professional and ethical codes of conduct from applying. The privacy obligations of providers arising from the Privacy Act are intended to complement their existing professional and ethical obligations of confidentiality.

An example of the relationship between the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) and health service providers’ professional codes of conduct can be found in National Privacy Principle 10.2 (NPP10.2). This NPP allows the collection of an individual’s health information without the individual’s consent under certain circumstances, which include the provider’s compliance with the binding rules of a competent health or medical body dealing with obligations of professional confidentiality.

For more information on NPP10.2 see Guidelines on Privacy in the Private Health Sector.